The Principal Underwood In The Mountain Districts Of Ceylon Is The
'nillho.' This Is A Perfectly Straight Stem, From
Twelve to twenty feet
in length, and about an inch and a half in diameter, having no branches
except a
Few small arms at the top, which are covered with large leaves.
This plant, in proportion to its size, grows as close as corn in a
field, and forms a dense jungle most difficult to penetrate. When the
jungles are in this state, the elk is at a disadvantage, as the immense
exertion required to break his way through this mass soon fatigues him,
and forces him to come to bay.
Every seven years this 'nillho' blossoms. The jungles are then neither
more nor less than vast bouquets of bright purple and white flowers; the
perfume is delicious, and swarms of bees migrate from other countries to
make their harvest of honey. The quantity collected is extraordinary.
The bee-hunters start from the low country, and spend weeks in the
jungle in collecting the honey and wax. When looking over an immense
tract of forest from some elevated point, the thin blue lines of smoke
may be seen rising in many directions, marking the sites of the
bee-hunters fires. Their method of taking the honey is simple enough.
The bees' nests hang from the boughs of the trees, and a man ascends
with a torch of green leaves, which creates a dense smoke. He approaches
the nest and smokes off the swarm, which, on quitting the exterior of
the comb, exposes a beautiful circular mass of honey and wax, generally
about eighteen inches in diameter and six inches thick.
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